Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Note: Periodically throughout the season, Oilers' prospect and current Springfield Falcons' winger Rob Schremp will provide Illegal Curve readers with a unique insight into the world of professional hockey.For Rob's third entry, he agreed to another quick Q & A about his season thus far.

Here is the interview:

Illegal Curve: Hey Rob. The first thing we wanted to ask you is how have you enjoyed the move to Left Wing?

Rob: I have adjusted to playing the wing pretty well. It was hard at first because you always want to creep down in your own zone and help your teammates out but the key is to keep your own coverage because if you don't everything gets all messed up.

Illegal Curve: You are currently in the Top 10 in AHL scoring; as a result, have you set winning the AHL scoring championship as one of your end of season goals?

Rob: It is something that I would like to achieve and it is a goal that is well within my reach. I just need to stay consistent every night if I am going to stay up there with players like Marty St. Pierre and Teddy Purcell.

Illegal Curve: It is said that every young player needs to work on their defensive game and we at Illegal Curve were wondering what adjustments have you made to your defensive game over the course of the season?

Rob: Nothing too big really. I just try to keep my focus on communicating and making sure I take care of my responsibilities before I try to help out in other areas.

Illegal Curve: With a call up only a phone call away, do you consistently keep an eye on the Oilers during the course of the season?

Rob: My roomate Danny Syvret and I watch a lot of games on the Center Ice package; which is pretty good seeing as how they rarely show NHL games on regular cable in the U.S. I do keep an eye on the Oilers just to see who is hurt or if there is a possibility of a call up. Also, I like to watch my buddies like Gilby (Tom Gilbert) and Nilsson (Robert Nilsson).

Illegal Curve: With the aforementioned possibility of a call up, do you have any kind of timeline for when you expect to be called up to the NHL?

Rob: No because you can never really know when, or if, you are going to get called up. If I were to set a timeline for myself, I think it would be more of a distraction than anything. I'd probably be thinking about it all the time; instead, I just focus on taking care of what I need to do here in Springfield.

Illegal Curve: Finally, for something a little fun. If you could pick two linemates from your hockey career, past or present, who would they be and why?

Rob: That is a tough question. I'd have to say Robert Nilsson just because of the chemistry we had together last season in Wilkes-Barre. I would have to pick two other ones and they would be Drew Larman and Dan Fritsche who were both my linemates in London (OHL) the season we won the Memorial Cup.

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